Airline Pilot Central Forums - Pros & Cons of an Aviation Career

Airline Pilot Central Forums (https://www.airlinepilotforums.com/)

- Leaving the Career (https://www.airlinepilotforums.com/leaving-career/)

- - Pros & Cons of an Aviation Career (https://www.airlinepilotforums.com/leaving-career/85730-pros-cons-aviation-career.html)

I used to agree with the seniority system being a con, but after almost a decade flying corporate and seeing guys let go who were only a few years from retirement...And other guys let go just because they weren't buddies with the chief or didn't brown nose well enough, I realize that seniority is beneficial to pilots. Unlike, say accounts for example, our skills aren't portable. We can't necessarily walk across town and find another job for the same compensation (unless you fly a highly desirable corporate fleet). Chances are we uproot the family, relocate, start over etc.

I used to say this. If I am at an airline, get laid off, and for ten years I am slinging French fries at McDonalds because I can't find anything else, once recalled it is the airline's job to get me back in the cockpit.

If I am laid off flying corporate and for ten years can't find another flying job, I'm probably done flying forever. I am so far out of currency it's unlikely I'd find another gig.

Most of the big boys put in about 15% of your pay into a 401k.

I would add, if commuting, esp. on reserve, it is difficult to just maintain your home. If a pipe bursts, or the water heater goes south, your spouse will have to handle it. I had some intermittent creeping mold in the corner of my house that I couldn't address for more than a yr. It turned out there was a leak in the roof that was allowing water to run down inside the wall. Cost $$$. HOI only covered catastrophic damage, not ongoing.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yazzoo (Post 1793984)

PROS:

- Flying jets is fun
- Flight attendants ;)
- The occasional fun crew
- The occasional fun layover
- Leave work at work
- Flexible monthly schedules
- Free travel & ZED fares
- Office view
- Satisfaction of a flight well-flown
- Camaraderie; aviation is a small world
- Beats sitting in a cubicle

I don't care about travel, so free travel is worthless to me. Layovers are strictly hotel and back to the airport. I'm not a tourist.

I do love the smell of smoke in the cockpit.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yazzoo (Post 1793984)

CONS:

- Always traveling...can be tiring & difficult to maintain your personal life
- As safe as aviation is, there's alway the chance of an accident
- Job on the line every flight/check-ride/line-check/etc.
- Irregular working hours and days off..can be tough to have a "normal" life
- Radiation, fatigue and other health concerns
- No retirement funds other than 401K
- Contracts getting worse
- One accidental slip up with the law could be career ending
- Lower salary than other jobs that require similar education levels
- Lose your job at one airline and you have to start over
- Recurrent training
- Lose your medical & you're done
- Being a pilot is a lifestyle choice; not a job (could be a pro depending how you look at it)
- There are much easier ways to make more money & be home every night

Traveling is part of the job. I can do it in an office, in a hangar, or in an airplane; it's time at work, no matter how you slice it. I'd rather be in the cockpit than most other places, though. Personal life has never been a problem with flying.
There's the chance of an "accident" anywhere, in any job.
The job is on the line with every checkride, as it should be. Many jobs have inservice evaluations.
Retirement has gone away in many if not most industries outside the government. Welcome to reality.
"Accidental slip-up" with the law? Don't break the law.
Lose your job at an airline? Shouldn't be worried about starting over; if you go to work for another airline, they don't owe you anything.
Comparable education? What education? Degree if you wish (not required in most cases), and the flight training? Monkey skills on par with becoming a ski instructor.
If you lose your medical you should be done.
Being a pilot may be a "lifestyle" to you; it's very much a job, and a good one, too.
Easy is as easy does, but conducting an airplane from A to B isn't exactly rocket science, nor a particularly demanding act. There are a lot of harder and worse ways to make a living.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JohnBurke (Post 1798558)

and the flight training? Monkey skills on par with becoming a ski instructor.

If you truly believe that, you have no business carrying people around or even being a flight instructor. You are an equipment operator at best.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JohnBurke (Post 1798558)

I don't care about travel, so free travel is worthless to me. Layovers are strictly hotel and back to the airport. I'm not a tourist.

I do love the smell of smoke in the cockpit.

Traveling is part of the job. I can do it in an office, in a hangar, or in an airplane; it's time at work, no matter how you slice it. I'd rather be in the cockpit than most other places, though. Personal life has never been a problem with flying.
There's the chance of an "accident" anywhere, in any job.
The job is on the line with every checkride, as it should be. Many jobs have inservice evaluations.
Retirement has gone away in many if not most industries outside the government. Welcome to reality.
"Accidental slip-up" with the law? Don't break the law.
Lose your job at an airline? Shouldn't be worried about starting over; if you go to work for another airline, they don't owe you anything.
Comparable education? What education? Degree if you wish (not required in most cases), and the flight training? Monkey skills on par with becoming a ski instructor.
If you lose your medical you should be done.
Being a pilot may be a "lifestyle" to you; it's very much a job, and a good one, too.
Easy is as easy does, but conducting an airplane from A to B isn't exactly rocket science, nor a particularly demanding act. There are a lot of harder and worse ways to make a living.

I appreciate your input, although it came across more as a harsh critique. Not sure I agree with your viewpoint but it's good to hear from everyone.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bedrock (Post 1798562)

If you truly believe that, you have no business carrying people around or even being a flight instructor. You are an equipment operator at best.

I truly believe that, and I have all the business in the world carrying people and cargo around, as well as performing whatever utility mission I might be hired to do, and yes, I also flight instruct.

I am an aviator, and yes, an equipment operator.

You're not?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yazzoo (Post 1798953)

I appreciate your input, although it came across more as a harsh critique.

Excellent.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JohnBurke (Post 1800720)

I missed this reply somehow. No I am not merely an equipment operator. As an instructor, do you remember the FOI's? Something about the difference between rote, application and correlation? An equipment operator does not work on the correlation level. Does the term airmanship ring a bell? An equipment operator reads some gauges and responds to them, that is the monkey learning by rote. Airline pilots are way beyond that. I mean, i suppose you could teach anybody how to do an appendectomy too, so is the surgeon a monkey?

Quote:

Originally Posted by JohnBurke (Post 1798558)

Comparable education? What education? Degree if you wish (not required in most cases), and the flight training? Monkey skills on par with becoming a ski instructor.
If you lose your medical you should be done.
Being a pilot may be a "lifestyle" to you; it's very much a job, and a good one, too.
Easy is as easy does, but conducting an airplane from A to B isn't exactly rocket science, nor a particularly demanding act. There are a lot of harder and worse ways to make a living.

No sarcasm here- You may very well be very intelligent and therefore the job is easy. I on the other hand do not think the job is all that easy. In fact, I am constantly in the books re-learning things I have forgotten. You are probably more intelligent than me.
I do have multiple types (no checkride fails) an A&P/IA, CFI tickets and a dispatch license. I have even built experimental aircraft from plans. I have to study a lot and study hard. Flying is NOT monkey easy for me.

Bottom line, nothing destroys a passion for aviation, a love for all thing flying... Like a flying career.